the 50s Day Dress, part 1

Hello again!

I've had these photos for ages, but to be honest, my sewing has not been my top priority recently--I've been busy watching Pretty Little Liars with lots of schoolwork since the semester is almost over!

In my quest to have some tried and true patterns I can turn to again and again, I've been experimenting with a few patterns for a 50's style day dress. You know the one: jewel neckline, fitted bodice (pointy bra optional), sleeveless or short or three quarter length sleeves, and a gorgeous swishy skirt. My accidentally-Amish dress fit the mold perfectly on the pattern envelope, despite it being a train wreck sewn up in a heavyweight material:

Although I may return to this pattern at some point--I would really like to know if it looks better in a lighter fabric with some body--I've also been testing some alternatives.

The first is my chopped-and-screwed shift dress pattern, made into a bodice only, with a simple dirndl skirt attatched, and manifests in my beautiful skeleton toile from Alexander Henry. Remember when I said I bought it, and I was going to make a Halloween dress? I did, and I never blogged about it until now. Oops! I wore it for Halloween, and then again for a Mardi Gras celebration (and some other times, of course).

I'm fairly happy with this pattern, and very happy with this dress. I took my time on it and did a lot (for me) of hand finishing: the arm hems (whatever, arm hems is a technical term), the waistline interior finish, and a beautiful handpicked zipper. I centered a hilarious picture of skeletons carousing on the front:

and did my best at pattern matching on the back:

handpicked zipper obscured by pattern

Things I love: The fabric. My lining: The skirt is unlined, the bodice is lined and has a neck facing in self-fabric. Also, I made the lining too short (forgot to add inches to the bottom that I added to the dress fabric) and I remedied this by adding a strip of dress fabric there, so you get a little bit of fashion fabric at the neck and waistline: it's cute. My handpicked zipper! Waist fit is perfect.

Things I wish were better: The fit through the shoulders. The sleeves attach a little weirdly, because of all the pattern mucking-about-with I did. Obviously my pattern matching at the back seam could be better, but its still better than 95% of ready to wear, sadly. My horrible "I'm so freezing and not wearing shoes" poses. Punctuality of blogging.

The second option is the ever-popular Simplicity 2444, the Project Runway dress made up with much success by sewing/vintage bloggers everywhere. Wait until you see it! Its cute.

xoxo,
allie

ps: is anyone else watching Pretty Little Liars? I don't think of myself as a tv watcher since I really only have a few shows I watch consistently, but I do enjoy teen shows--I liked all four seasons of the OC, and watched Gossip Girl for years before it got too redundant. Pretty Little Liars totally fits my criteria: beautiful people, dramatic but not too dramatic, not overly "problem novel-y."

15 comments:

Hi! I just hopped over here from Sew Retro, and I am so in love with pretty much everything you've made! I especially love the pink shift with the white trim down the front--so cute. Keep the awesome dresses coming :)

so happy to find your blog, another 60s fashion lover and sewist! I was admiring your dress, thinking what a good idea it is to use toile de Jouy for a dress, when i noticed the skeleton heads! heeee, brilliant! where did you find that fabric?

Hi! I too have just popped over from Sew Retro....what a gorgeous dress! It fits you perfectly and your pattern matching at the back is seriously impressive. I would never have thought of doing that, so you've seriously raised the bar for me ;o) Can I ask if you know what your Alexander Henry fabric is called? I really want some now!

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